We begin to publish some of the talks given at ConservativeHome's Victory 2015 Conference…

John Stevenson MP argues that Northerners share many Tory values – on crime, education, tax, welfare reform, family values, immigration, and Europe – but we undermine our support when we attack the public sector and when we appeared dominated by southern voices. Read his piece.

Cameron suggested he would never cut the NHS budget while he is prime minister – Daily Mail

The Sun is unimpressed: "David Cameron believes he is winning brownie points for stubbornly refusing to cut budgets he has ring-fenced. But he should heed the unlikely alliance of Liam Fox and Vince Cable. Funding promises he made at election time look hopelessly out of touch three years on with the economy still on its knees. Everyone knows the NHS could be run more efficiently — and that much foreign aid could be far better spent at home."

"David Cameron is facing a pincer movement from the left and right to abandon his policy of protecting up to 50% of departmental spending, with Vince Cable and Liam Fox both speaking out against the ringfencing of the NHS, schools and overseas aid budgets." – Guardian | City AM

"We are almost three years into the life of a Government which took office promising to reduce the mountain of debt bequeathed to the nation by Gordon Brown and Ed Balls. Yet today, while the BBC runs an unrelenting propaganda campaign on behalf of the Left, proclaiming the iniquity of 'Tory cuts', there has been no effective progress in reducing that debt." – Max Hastings for the Daily Mail

"It is time that we set a clear philosophical course and rebuild an economy that is leaner, more agile and better prepared to compete in the modern world. We must, again, encourage people to dream of a better life for themselves and for their children. We must encourage them to believe that their future lies in their own hands and not in the hands of a bloated state. Where they aspire, let us bring them opportunity and they will build a better tomorrow for Britain." – Liam Fox for City AM

You have to be one of Vince Cable's 'austerity jihadists' to believe you can cut your way out of a slump – Austerity never works argues Aditya Chakrabortty in The Guardian

Janan Ganesh: Osborne increasingly isolated in his party

"The chancellor, for all his modernising zeal, is a traditional fiscal conservative in a party increasingly dominated by Reaganite tax-cutters" – Janan Ganesh in the FT (£)

"Pro-growth tax reform (broadening bases and lowering rates) seems a no brainer, and the chancellor should pledge that spending cuts will do all the remaining lifting in deficit reduction" – Ryan Bourne of the Centre for Policy Studies for City AM

"Ministers spent the day thrashing out a way to prevent Nick Clegg’s party from having to vote against his treasured Mansion Tax policy in a Commons vote being held by Labour tomorrow. Instead the Tories and Lib Dems will back an unprecedented amendment which admits David Cameron and Mr Clegg are at loggerheads over the proposal to impose a levy on homes worth more than £2million." – Daily Mail

Labour and the Tories both think they'll lose 2015 and they can't both be right – Steve Richards in The Independent

Cameron should not be replaced as Tory leader but it's high time he demonstrated more solidarity with Britain's quiet conservative majority

"One of Mr Cameron's greatest mistakes was to insult UKIP supporters as 'fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists', instead of trying to lure them back into the Tory family to which most of them naturally belong. If he is to win back the loyalty of the quiet majority in Britain who regard themselves as conservative, it's high time he started proving he's on their side." – Daily Mail leader

Eleanor Laing MP urges her colleagues to stop talking about the Tory leadership and focus on winning the next General Election – Telegraph

"If the Tories have a sense of history then May could be their choice.
In 1975 Margaret Thatcher was seen as a lightweight who was no better
than a stalking horse against Ted Heath to open the leadership route for
a male colleague." – David Maddox for The Scotsman

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby held out an olive branch last night, praising Iain Duncan Smith's “incredibly brave” overhaul of Britain’s system of handouts – The Sun

"Archbishop Welby wrote on his blog that Mr Duncan Smith was “introducing one of the biggest and most thorough reforms of a system that most people admit is shot full of holes, wrong incentives, and incredible complexity”." – Times (£)

"John Packer, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, will on Tuesday propose an amendment to the government’s benefit uprating bill that would exempt families with children from the proposed 1 per cent cap on next year’s rise in benefits." – FT (£)

I don’t mind the Church of England sounding off about the benefits cap. But I do mind them getting to vote on it – Hugo Rifkind in The Times (£)

Former drug users and alcoholics can make the best employees, Iain
Duncan Smith will say on Tuesday, as he sets out plans to get more
addicts off benefits and into work – Telegraph

Cameron says no to head-to-head debate with Alex Salmond on independence – Herald

Clegg has told Cameron that his plan for a European Union referendum is “madness” – Express

UKIP complain that the EU wants to brainwash children with “sinister” Soviet-style propaganda – Express

I'm leaving the Liberal Democrats too over the Justice and Security Bill – Philippe Sands for The Guardian

"I am sorry. I want to say that to family, to friends, to constituents and to colleagues, and more broadly to everybody who cares passionately about the causes I care about, including saving the planet for our children and our grandchildren." – Chris Huhne's regret, reported in The Guardian

Locking Huhne and Pryce up in our expensive, overcrowded prisons serves no purpose – Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£)

The Sun Says: "Chris Huhne is an arrogant, poisonous hypocrite with irrational obsessions over Europe and windmills. He gave the finger to his country, his party and the Cabinet of which he was a member by maintaining a shameless lie with incredible brass neck right to the brink of his trial."

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